Some Kind of Normal

He was everything that was good. Everything that was kind and compassionate. Things would be okay, wouldn’t they?

I mean how could these people not see the beauty and kindness in front of them? Why should they even care about who he loved in his private time, when it was so obvious that he loved them all?

My heart swelled, looking up at him, but when he started speaking, I didn’t hear his words. I was too caught up in the sunbeams, too hypnotized by their magic as the light moved around him like it was alive.

I thought of my mother and my heart constricted, because I knew hers was broken. I just hoped that one day she’d find someone who could love her the way that she deserved to be loved. All in and full of bravery.

It’s what all of us deserve. Pretty simple, really.

Even someone who thinks that they don’t deserve it. Someone like Trevor Lewis.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Trevor

I’d sent Everly at least twenty text messages in the last twelve hours, and she hadn’t returned one. Seriously, I was that pathetic, and even Link told me to cut it out. Said that I was turning into a pussy and that girls don’t like guys who try too hard.

“She hates me,” I muttered.

“Who hates you?” Taylor asked with a yawn. It was ten o’clock Monday morning, and the parents were gone to work. Taylor had just been hired at the local Dairy Queen and was up early (for her at least—she was never up before noon most days).

“Oh, never mind,” she said, reaching for a box of pasta, the breakfast of champions, according to her. “Everybody hates you because you’ve been an A-hole for the last few weeks.”

Guess I had that one coming.

“So have you talked to Everly?” Taylor asked as she filled a pot with water.

“No.”

“Really? She still hates you too?”

“Yep,” I replied darkly.

“Can’t say that I blame her. I mean, you did blow her off like she didn’t matter.”

“Is there a point to this?”

Taylor made a face. “So did you know? I mean, that her dad was gay?”

“No.”

Word had spread fast in our small town of Twin Oaks. There was gossip and then there was gossip. A pastor confessing he was gay? That was the feeding frenzy kind of gossip.

“Well, I think he’s the bravest person I know. I mean, who does that? Like, he just put himself out there, and he had to know that not everyone in this town would like what he had to say.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled.

“You should call her.”

I glanced up sharply. It wasn’t like Taylor to be all cheerleader for anyone. But she was right. The only problem? I was pretty sure Everly would blow me off, because that’s pretty much what I’d done to her.

“I think that I’m the last person Everly wants to hear from.”

“I heard their house got egged.”

“Who told you that?”

“Megan Chambers. She lives beside then and posted a bunch of crap on Facebook. Said he deserved it. Said Mr. Jenkins was a creep and that he was going to hell. But then, she’s such a bitch. I mean, who deserves to get egged? Freaking Megan Chambers, that’s who.”